New Antenna Installed

Hi Folks,

I just wanted to follow up on a post I made a couple of weeks ago
regarding good antennas for HD reception.

I ended up buying a Radio Shack U-75R. This is a smallish, UHF
antenna - small enough to fit in my attic.

It did just the trick. I picked up over 10 dB of gain over my old
Channel Master STEALH, http://www.channelmaster.com/images/3010.jpg,
and it only cost about $25.00.
--
% Randy Yates % "Ticket to the moon, flight leaves here today
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % from Satellite 2"
%%% 919-577-9882 % 'Ticket To The Moon'
%%%% % *Time*, Electric Light Orchestra
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr

Randy Yates writes:
[...]
I ended up buying a Radio Shack U-75R.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

PS: My Dad and I were able to watch the SuperBowl in un-interrupted HD
last night! It was wonderful on my 65" Toshiba. Thanks everyone for
your input!
--
% Randy Yates % "And all that I can do
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % is say I'm sorry,
%%% 919-577-9882 % that's the way it goes..."
%%%% % Getting To The Point', *Balance of Power*, ELO
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr

Randy Yates writes:
[...]
I picked up over 10 dB of gain

I'm sorry, folks - this is probably not correct. I confused
my "signal strength" display with "dB of gain" - what an
idiot!

The truth is, I picked up over 10 percent in my signal strength
display.

I wonder - is this display standardized in the ATSC spec?
--
% Randy Yates % "Maybe one day I'll feel her cold embrace,
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % and kiss her interface,
%%% 919-577-9882 % til then, I'll leave her alone."
%%%% % 'Yours Truly, 2095', *Time*, ELO
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr

"Randy Yates" wrote in message
...
Randy Yates writes:
[...]
I picked up over 10 dB of gain

I'm sorry, folks - this is probably not correct. I confused
my "signal strength" display with "dB of gain" - what an
idiot!

The truth is, I picked up over 10 percent in my signal strength
display.

Probably more than that. At least on my set, it is not linear. Also, at
least on the Sharp, it seems to measure overall signal quality and not just
signal amplitude. BTW, I put up the same antenna with a ChannelMaster amp,
and am getting HD stations up to 65 miles out. Good luck with the set.

Tam

I wonder - is this display standardized in the ATSC spec?
--
% Randy Yates % "Maybe one day I'll feel her cold
embrace,
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % and kiss her
interface,
%%% 919-577-9882 % til then, I'll leave her
alone."
%%%% % 'Yours Truly, 2095', *Time*, ELO
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr

Randy Yates ) wrote in alt.tv.tech.hdtv:
The truth is, I picked up over 10 percent in my signal strength
display.

I wonder - is this display standardized in the ATSC spec?

Nope. STBs can display anything they want. Most use the same thing that
satellite receivers use, which is a combination of correctable errors and
raw signal strength.

A few mix S/N ratio into the equation, and that (along with correctable/
uncorrectable error counts) is the most accurate measure of signal quality.

For ATSC, if you are running 20dB S/N or higher and generally have no
errors of any kind, it takes a *lot* to cause even a single uncorrectable
error (which is what causes picture glitches). For me, adding a 10dB
attenuator caused no errors on channels like that. For channels with a
S/N of 24dB, even 36dB of attenuation didn't cause any errors.

--
Jeff Rife |
| http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/Goals.gif

Jeff Rife wrote:
Randy Yates ) wrote in alt.tv.tech.hdtv:
The truth is, I picked up over 10 percent in my signal strength
display.

I wonder - is this display standardized in the ATSC spec?

Nope. STBs can display anything they want. Most use the same thing that
satellite receivers use, which is a combination of correctable errors and
raw signal strength.

A few mix S/N ratio into the equation, and that (along with correctable/
uncorrectable error counts) is the most accurate measure of signal quality.

For ATSC, if you are running 20dB S/N or higher and generally have no
errors of any kind, it takes a *lot* to cause even a single uncorrectable
error (which is what causes picture glitches). For me, adding a 10dB
attenuator caused no errors on channels like that. For channels with a
S/N of 24dB, even 36dB of attenuation didn't cause any errors.

--
Jeff Rife |
| http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/Goals.gif

I think the signal readout should display a combination based on
priority. If S/N meets the minimal requirement, priority should shift
to how much equalization is required for multipath scaled by how much
error correction is being done. Once signal is strong enough and you
have best multipath, the error correction will likely be minimal.
Signal strength alone is almost useless since an overload would have
lots of signal and no usable output.

I have an OLD HK Citation 15 tuner that has a 'quieting' meter that
measures noise energy up around 80 KHz. It is THE most reliable tuning
meter I've ever used. Never could you get better sonic performance than
that meter indicated. I think the equalizer activity on DTV would give
similar results.

GG

G-squared ) wrote in alt.tv.tech.hdtv:
Once signal is strong enough and you
have best multipath, the error correction will likely be minimal.

"Minimial" is an understatement. I average well below 1 correctable error
per second on all the stations with anywhere near decent S/N. Even on a
station with S/N hovering around 20dB, I usually only see 1-2 errors per
second. That was the way I figured out that either S/N or raw signal
strength had to be a component of the OSD meter.

I think the equalizer activity on DTV would give
similar results.

The same software that gives me S/N and error data will show me a realtime
display of the equalizer coefficients. It's a status program that runs on
the MyHD MDP-100 and MDP-120 PCI cards...the MDP-130 uses a different chipset
so it isn't supported.

--
Jeff Rife | Sam: What d'ya say to a beer, Normie?
|
| Norm: Hi, sailor...new in town?